New housing development will bring UA student rentals, preserve historic homes in Tucson

A new development coming to Tucson will boost student and workforce housing in an area minutes from the University of Arizona’s main campus, all while preserving historic properties.

The Tucson City Council unanimously passed an agreement Tuesday allowing a student housing developer to bring residential units to the West University neighborhood.

As part of the agreement, developer Capstone Collegiate Communities will include income-restricted units for middle-income families and the preservation of several historic homes currently housed on the site.

Testimony from residents who live near the development in the West University neighborhood during Tuesday’s city council meeting reflected the support the project has garnered from the surrounding community.

Residents praised the project’s preservation of several houses built between 1918 and 1921 on the current development site. Five houses will be relocated to a new site on 2nd Avenue, two will be refurbished and one will be demolished.

According to the developer’s relocation plan, the idea to move the houses to that new location in West University was offered by the owner of the new site. The owner will also be responsible for the rehabilitation of the houses, funded in part by Capstone.

Betsy Besnick-Larson, vice president of the West University Neighborhood Association, applauded Capstone for making a “good faith” effort to compromise with the community while noting challenges still facing the area.

“Our neighborhood has faced increased pressures as Tucson learns the balancing act of responsible growth,” she said, adding how large-scale student housing will continue to be a challenge for neighborhoods.

The proposed development at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Speedway Boulevard will make 30 of the 144 units income-restricted rentals. This means rent will be no more than 30% of the tenant’s income for households earning between 80% and 120% of the Area Median Income. That’s between $42,960 and $64,440 for a one-person household. While the project will include a range of apartment sizes from one-bedroom to five-bedroom units, the income-restricted rentals will be one-bedroom units.

The West University Neighborhood is in the National Register of Historic Places as Tucson’s first suburb north of the Southern Pacific Railroad, according to the neighborhood’s National Register of Historic Places nomination form.

“The District developed as a neighborhood occupied by many community leaders in politics, commerce, education, religion, architecture, and the arts,” the nomination form states. It also details how some of the larger buildings in the neighborhood were used as sanitariums for tuberculosis victims who moved to Tucson to ease their symptoms.

Councilmember Steve Kozachik said this project has taken five years to come to fruition, primarily because of challenges holding public meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the length of time it takes to establish a good relationship with the community and conduct historic preservation work.

He said this project is important as it will set a precedence for housing development that occurs across Speedway, another historic neighborhood area that has had interest from student housing developers.

This development will “set a precedent for what kind of development happens kitty-corner across Speedway … whatever we do here is going to set the tone for what we do over there,” he said.

Kozachik reiterated this project shows how developers, the city and the community can work together to “find a way to yes” and bring projects to fruition.

Reach the reporter at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com. The Republic’s coverage of southern Arizona is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America. Support Arizona news coverage with a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.